I’ve talked before about how feminism must be intersectional in order
for it to actually be feminism. This
means that feminists have to acknowledge the ways in which race, class and
gender all intertwine to create different, valid experiences. As we approach
the end of February -- Black History
Month -- I felt it was important to
acknowledge one of the biggest ways
in which the intersection between race
and gender is still operating today.
I want to talk about the demographics within our government.
At time of publication, the U.S.
House of Representatives holds 238
Republicans and 193 Democrats,
according to the House Press
Gallery, which noted that three
Republicans and one Democrat
have resigned within the past two
months in order to accept other
positions. There are currently four
vacant seats in the House, per the
same source.
The U.S. Senate holds 52
Republicans, 46 Democrats and
2 Independents, according to the
Senate’s website.
According to Rutgers Center for
American Women in Politics, there are
104 women in Congress as of January
2017. 83 out of 435 members of the
House are women -- though four seats
are currently vacant -- and 21 out of
the 100 members of the Senate are
women. This means that fewer than
a quarter of our representatives are
women. So that’s not great.
But it gets worse. According to a
profile done by the Congressional
Research Service in December, 2016,
only 48 African Americans are members of Congress, 46 in the House
and 2 in the Senate. Hispanic/Latino
Americans fill just 38 seats within
Congress, Asian/Pacific Islander
Americans fill 14, and American
Indians fill 2.
Let’s break this down even farther. Out of the total 104 women in
Congress, 21 are African American, 11
are Hispanic, and 10 are Asian/Pacific
Americans, according to the House of
Representatives website.
That means that more than half

of the women in Congress are white
women. And, if I do a little math
here, we can see that there are 28
African American men in Congress,
29 Hispanic men, 4 Asian/ Pacific,
and 2 Indian American. That means
there are 330 white men in our current Congress, overwhelmingly making
them the dominant group.
Why do all of these numbers matter?
They matter because our government should reflect and represent the
people it is governing. Ours doesn’t.
Not to bombard you with numbers,
but according to the 2015 Census, 50.8
percent of our country is female, yet,
as I said earlier, not even 25 percent
of the legislative branch is made up
of women.

“

Why do all of these
numbers matter?
They matter because
our government
should reflect and
represent the people it
is governing.

”

Not only are women being underrepresented within our government,
women of color are being fully undermined. There are only 39 women of
color in Congress as of Jan. 3.
This is alarming because different
laws and issues are going to affect
people differently based on their lived
experiences. If the majority of lived
experiences within Congress are that
of white men, we’re going to see that
reflected in our laws and values.
This is exactly what we’re talking
about when we say that racism and
sexism are systematic. They stem from
the system by which our country is
governed. There is no valid reason why
Congress should be made up of more
white men than white women and
people of color combined.
It’s also horrifying that just in 2017,
there have been two instances in which
women in have been literally silenced
by men in Congress. Elizabeth Warren
was silenced when she attempted to
read a letter in which Coretta Scott

King opposed Jeff Sessions’ nomination to be attorney general. The
rule making that possible was created more than a century ago when two
senators got into a fist fight on the
senate floor. It’s asinine, irrelevant,
and an excuse to stop a woman from
voicing her opinions.
It’s undoubtedly alarming that the
letter, written by an influential and
important woman of color, was dubbed
as disruptive as a literal fist fight,
and it’s also alarming that a woman
opposing a man in the government was
silenced by other men.
This happened again, just last
week, when Texas State Sen. Charles
Schwertner silenced a University
of Texas student for opposing an
anti-abortion law that, as she argued
and I agree, would make the process
of abortion dangerous to women. He
literally shattered a glass table with
his gavel as he instructed her to stop
speaking at half the length those preceding her had spoken.
Not only are women being underrepresented, they are being silenced by the
men who are supposed to be governing
our society. Even in regards to laws
that will directly affect women.
But this is where intersectionality
comes in: it is one thing to have one’s
gender underrepresented. It is one
thing to have one’s race underrepresented. To have both one’s race and
one’s gender underrepresented within
the government is a stark silencing of
one’s lived experience.
As a white woman, I can say that
my government has failed to represent me fully and properly. But as a
white woman, I must also acknowledge that my government has failed
to represent women of color to an
even greater degree. It is possible
to feel oppression and privilege at
the same time.
Pay attention to who is representing you, and treat the votes for
Congress members with as much
weight as the vote for president.
There will be 468 seats up for
re-election on Nov. 6, 2018. I know
that’s a ways away, but give yourself ample time to do research and
plan out your votes, because 468
is a lot.
468 is enough to make a change, so
let’s make a change.

The Black Faculty Staff Association
of Towson University has hosted two
events this semester. During our
Feb. 1, Black History Month Kickoff
Event, more white men attended the
event than black men. In our second
event, The Blacksmith Shop, which

took place on Feb. 15, half of the
participants were from the white
community. I thought it would be
unfair for me not to make a note of
this. Particularly during these times
when we so readily talk about and
pass on negative, alternative facts.
I am not sure what is happening. I
am, however, sure, that this change
is very promising.

Change how you think
about love and sex
FATHER BUENING
Campus Catholic Ministry

Now that I know the Towerlight
is not scared to publish radical and
different notions about love and sex,
as seen in the most recent issue, I have
hope that this letter to the editor might
be published as well. For I have the
most radical, different, and challenging
ideas about sex.
I dare to believe that sexual
activity is a beautiful coronation
and a most powerful expression
of a deep abiding love that has
been solemnly committed to for a
lifetime. I think sex should not be
between strangers or acquaintances
or friends with benefits.
I believe that no one should be
drunk or high when having sex. I
strongly believe that unless you want
to have and raise a child with the person you would be wise to not have sex
with him/her. Ultimately, I believe sex
is an amazing gift from God. It is the

most intimate and sacred way we can
express to someone how much we love
them with our very bodies.
I realize that this view of sex is
radical and completely counter to
the culture we currently live in. I
know that to see sex as sacred and
special flies in the face of a society
that sees it only as recreational
and inconsequential. It takes extra
effort, courage, and fortitude to save
sex for the special person you want
to spend the rest of your life with.
I simply write to share this crazy
notion of sex and to encourage any
students who may feel that treating
sex as a leisure activity with people
you don’t truly love has left them
wounded, confused, hurting, or has
caused broken hearts and friendships.
Don’t think that you have to fall in
line and conform to the way everyone
else around you is thinking about
love, be daring and think differently.
-- Read the rest of this letter online
at thetowerlght.com.

Opinion

February 21, 2017

5

How to encourage others to check their privilege
MATT TEITELBAUM
Columnist

The once pedestrian noun “privilege” has become a loaded term.
Like pretty much everything else
these days, it has become politicized. Odds are that your immediate response to hearing the term,
or more specifically the request
or demand that one “check their
privilege” at least partially exposes
your political views.
For many liberals, checking
one’s privilege is not only a valid
concept, but an essential exercise
in humility and empathy for those
born under advantaged circumstances.
For many conservatives, checking one’s privilege is an overused
or perhaps even invalid concept
which only serves to play into the
far-left agendas of victim culture
and identity politics.
For me, privilege is a valid, albeit overused concept. Here’s my
advice to anyone who wants to discuss the concept of privilege and
actually be productive.
The Right Way: In polite, casual conversation
If you find that someone is
unaware of their privilege or hasn’t
really become familiar with the
concept yet, explaining it to them
politely during casual conversation
can be highly productive.
By speaking casually, you avoid
condescending the person you’re
talking to and asking them to
check their privilege won’t sound
like a personal slight.
It’s very likely that when respectfully asked to reflect on the advantages they’ve had in life, almost
anyone would engage in a healthy
exercise of gratitude for what they
were born with and sympathy for
those less fortunate than them.
For instance, an able-bodied person might understand the privilege
of being able to walk unassisted.
Or perhaps a white person might
appreciate that they don’t have to
suffer from institutionalized racism and sympathize with those
that do.

Here, “Check your privilege”
takes the form of a polite request,
but it can also take the form of an
aggressive, condescending demand.
The Wrong Way: In a heated
debate or argument
Unlike in casual conversation,
asking someone to “check their
privilege” in a debate almost always
comes off as a personal attack rather than an attack on one’s ideas
or argument. It comes off that way
because it almost always is.
Arguments can’t be privileged,
and thus they can’t be accused of
privilege. However, the people who
make arguments can be privileged.
So why can’t one say that the arguments of white men on issues of race
and gender are hindered based on their

privilege? The problem is the assumption that personal experience
with minority and women’s issues somehow
trumps the bedrock of
any good argument,
facts and logic.
When someone
speaks from a position
of privilege, all they are
lacking is deeply personal, first-hand experience with
subjects like race relations and gender
equity. If their argument is predicated
on things other than personal experience—like facts and logic—then an
attempt to discredit them with the
accusation of privilege becomes an ad
hominem attack and a non-sequitur.
Using an accusation of privi-

lege to attack an argument which
is built on solid logic and
credible facts, in lieu of
personal anecdote, is
like claiming a home
with a perfectly
built foundation
isn’t structurally sound
because
the workers who built it
don’t live in it.
Via this explanation,
I like to think I’ve made
a valid argument regarding
the flaws in accusing someone
of privilege during debate. However,
on that specific topic, I have personal
experience to boot.

When I wrote an op-ed two weeks
ago, I was speciously accused of
having an invalid argument because
of my privilege as a cisgender, white,
male. Very few of my critics bothered to actually address my argument with facts and logic, opting instead to attack my
personal credibility
via my “cis, white,
male privilege.”
Fur thermore,
I can almost
guarantee some
will respond to
this op-ed by saying
“What is this white male,
doing lecturing people about
privilege?” To them I say, thank you
for proving my point.

Students could pay up to 5.4
percent more, overall, in mandatory
fees — which encompass technology, athletics, auxiliary services and
auxiliary services construction fees
— in the coming fiscal year, according to information distributed at a
Feb. 14 student open forum.
Mandatory fees include the technology fee and auxiliary fees, like construction and athletics.
During the meeting, Vice President
for Administration and Finance Joe
Oster said most of the fee increases
move at the rate of inflation, about
2-4 percent annually, but for fiscal
year 2017-2018, the auxiliary services
construction fee would increase by
8.2 percent — or $88 — for full-time
undergrads and 4.3 percent — $2 — for
all part-time students.
“The $88 increase in the construction fee goes to pay for the
debt service, the utilities and the
maintenance,” Oster said. “This big
increase is primarily attributed to
Burdick coming next year and the
start of the Union expansion and
innovation design project.”
Oster said Burdick is expected to
open Nov. 1.
The technology fee — which is slated
to increase by 7.5 percent, or $14, for
full-time students and 12.5 percent,
or $1 per credit hour, for part-time
graduate and undergraduate students
— helps to maintain computers and
other technology on campus.
The athletic fee helps pay for athletic scholarships and programming.
The athletics fee could increase by 4.6
percent, or $40, for full-time students.
The auxiliary services fee helps

pay for day-to-day services such as
recreational sports and expanded
staffing for the recreation center.
Planned auxiliary service fee increases are under 4 percent for all affected
students, while mandatory Student
Government Association fees are not
expected to increase at all. Possible
tuition increases range from 2 to 5
percent for all undergraduate students, dependent on in-state, out-ofstate or regional designation.
“Tuition pays for your faculty,
your classrooms – the whole operation of the academic enterprise of
the building…. The state supplements the tuition to pay for all those
things that run the academic enterprise,” Vice President for Student
Affairs Deb Moriarty said. “The
auxiliary [fees] pay for things that
aren’t must-haves on the campus.…
They’re the things that make campus have life beyond the classroom.”
On-campus housing costs will
increase by 3 percent for Douglass
House and Barton House but 3.5 percent for all other on-campus residences — aside from Carroll and Marshall
halls, which will not see a cost increase.
Moriarity said that Carroll and
Marshall halls won’t see an increase
because of their already comparatively
high price point.
The parking fee could see a $9
increase to the annual permit option
and a $5 increase to the semester permit. Meal plans saw a proposed a 3.6
to 3.9 percent increase, depending on
what any plan includes, according to
the University materials.
Before fee increases can be enacted, proposals must be approved by
multiple University bodies before
being passed on to the University
System of Maryland Board of
Regents for final approval.

American Muslim Wajahat Ali, who
wears many hats -- journalist, playwright, attorney and State Department
consultant -- fought Islamophobia
through historical precedent and personal narrative Thursday, Feb. 16,
during a talk sponsored by Towson’s
Center for Student Diversity.
“The diverse stories of 1.7 billion
Muslims and 1,400 years of rich,
dynamic Islamic civilization have been
reduced to a singular stereotypical
image – rage boy,” Ali said.
Ali, who gave a presentation billed
as “Understanding Islamophobia,”
describes this “rage boy” trope as a
“bearded, anti-American, bellicose, turban-wearing, brown skinned-guy who
is always burning American flags, who
is anti-semitic and angry.”
“If you don’t write your stories, your
stories will be written for you,” Ali said.
He cited “Iron Eagle,” “Aladdin”
and “Back to the Future,” wherein a
Libyan terrorist kills Doc Brown, as
stereotypical, harmful imaginings of
Muslims that ought to be replaced by

realistic narratives.
“I ask us to become participants,
not spectators,” he said. “We are not
impatient, we are not powerless – we
are privileged. We have the opportunity
to be proactive. The way to speak powerful truths is to do just that: speak.
Pick up and unleash the pen…. We
want to emerge as protagonists of the
American narrative. In order to do that
we have to tell stories that are by us –
for everyone. No longer by us, for us.”
Ali told the audience that he was
born and raised in California, and that
he went to preschool knowing only
three words of English but went on to
graduate with a degree in English from
the University of California, Berkeley.
He compared being Muslim at school
to being one of the popular kids.
“Everyone’s giving you lavish attention – even the people you want to
avoid,” he said.
There have been many people in
the western mainstream press who
have also been writing the stories of
Muslims and creating negative stereotypes, Ali said. What people know
about Muslims is overwhelmingly negative due to the sensationalized stories
shown in the news media.

He said that an influx of Muslims
came to America in the 1500s and that
up to 15-30 percent of slaves in the
slave trade were Muslim.
“If you think about it, Muslim blood,
Muslim sweat and Muslim stories have
fertilized this country’s soil from the
beginning,” Ali said.
Ali said that since the start of
Donald Trump’s political campaign,
anti-Muslim hate-crimes in the U.S.
have risen 67 percent, and the number
of anti-Muslim hate groups are up 197
percent in the U.S.
There has been a spike in employment discrimination against those
with “Muslim-y,” or stereotypically
Muslim-sounding, last names and an
increase in bullying of Muslim children
in schools, he said.
“Despite all the problems, we’re
deeply privileged people here in
America,” Ali said, “We cannot live
in culturally-isolated cocoons anymore,
because we do not live in culturally-isolated cocoons. Everything is connected
in this globalized world. Every action
resonates globally.”
-To read the rest of this article
online, visit thetowerlight.com.

On Feb. 15, as part of the
“Multiculturalism in Action Brown
Bag Series,” assistant women’s and
gender studies professor Jameta
Barlow spoke to a crowded room of
students and faculty about the importance of African American women’s
mental health and well-being.
“I’m interested in how women,
particularly black women, experience
trauma,” Barlow said.
Much of the trauma that black
women experience is intergenerational, she said, and stems from America’s
culture of slavery, legal segregation,
violence and sexual violence, and the
marginalization of black women’s
intersectional experiences.
Most of Barlow’s research is focused
on obesity and heart disease, in which
she seeks to understand the root
of these physical health issues and
mental health issues for black women.
“The manifestation of stress in
black women is a major mediator

rooted in trauma,” she said.
According to Barlow, of the 13.2
percent of African American or
black-identified people in the United
States, over 16 percent—or 6.8 million
people—had a diagnosable mental illness within the past year.
When it comes to mental health
issues like depression, Barlow said
black women are understudied,
underserved and often misdiagnosed.
She emphasized the importance of
recognizing these inherited traumas in
order to heal, and how healing necessitates self-care.
One audience member asked about
the stigma of self-care often being
perceived as selfishness, and whether
that stigma is changing.
“I see a lot of students involved in
a lot of organizations because they feel
they have to and I think that’s very
common to the experience of black
women, that we ‘have to,” Barlow
said. “You can still be active, but you
have to take care of yourself. It’s an
act of political warfare, but it’s not
self-indulgent in any way.”
Associate psychology professor and

Brown Bag Series organizer Danice
Brown said she wanted Barlow to host
a lecture because she was generally
amazed with her work.
“The series was created for the
purpose of exposing the community to the faculty doing work that’s
multicultural and social justice-oriented, and to open up [that] discussion with students, staff and
faculty,” Brown said.
Barlow is currently heading the
Saving Our Sisters project which
promotes mental health and well-being among black women and shares
videos that community members have made with the hashtag
#WhenIFellInLoveWithMyself.
“Sometimes self care is taking a walk outside,” Barlow said.
“Sometimes self care is saying no
to other people so you can say yes
to yourself. It doesn’t have to be
expensive to do it. It is innovative.
It is new.”
The next Multiculturalism in
Action Brown Bag Series lecture will
be on March 1 to discuss race and
cognitive bias in forensic sciences.

That is to say, there’s no science
to back up the beliefs of astrology
and reading your horoscope. And,
during a planetarium show on Feb.
17, associate professor Alex Storrs said
that, during introductory astronomy

courses, he sometimes doesn’t have
enough time to change someone’s
belief in the stars.
“All you can do is help them get
a slightly better understanding of science,” Storrs said.

File photo by William Strang-Moya/ The Towerlight
Astromony professor Alex Storrs sits in the planetarium during an “Other Earths” show Sept. 16. On
Feb. 17, Storrs tackled the history of astrology, as well as the scientific facts that debunk it.

He cited the “new” constellation,
Ophiuchus, which shook up the
astrological community after it was
introduced as the thirteenth sign
of the zodiac, potentially altering
which signs people identify with
their birth date.
“Ophiuchus isn’t new at all,” Storrs
said. “We’ve known about it for thousands of years. Most astrologers have
just ignored it.”
Storrs said some cultures recognize
as many as 24 zodiac constellations
in total. One of the difficulties that
Storrs raised about astrological predictions, particularly in how they pertain
to individuals, is that people tend
to selectively accept predictions that
turn out to be accurate while dismissing those that do not.
“We notice the positive statistics
when predictions are fulfilled but
aren’t good at recognizing the negative statistics when the predictions
fail,” he said.
Astrology has been useful for some
things in the past, but “whether it
works for individuals is a whole other
question. That’s a matter of faith…
You can believe in horoscopes all
you want. Just don’t go pushing your
beliefs on to anyone else,” Storrs said.

Unlike astrology, Storrs said science
can be used to make testable and
accurate predictions.
“The most respected level of a scientific explanation is a theory,” Storrs
said. “To dismiss a scientific theory
as ‘just a theory’ just shows your own
ignorance of science.”
Gravity? That’s a theory. Evolution?
Theory. Germs? Theory.
Storrs explained that in ancient
times, before society understood the
Earth’s movement through space,
people believed that the planet was
fixed in space with the stars and other
heavenly bodies moving around it.
Ptolemy used this geocentric system
to create his astrological charts.
Storrs said that as stars and other
celestial bodies move across the night
sky, they pass through several constellations which many ancient civilizations used as the basis, or as part
of, different mythologies and environmental and biological predictors.
“In ancient times, people probably
got bored and spent a lot of their time
stargazing and coming up with stories
about the images they saw in the
night sky,” Storrs said.
-To read the rest of this article
online, visit thetowerlight.com.

8

News

February 21, 2017

Career Center adds
new express hours
Peer advisors offer
walk-in appointments
self-market to potential employers,”
Logan-Bennett said. “Students can
Staff Writer
have résumés and even their cover
letters reviewed in that 15-minute
Towson University’s Career Center
time frame.”
has extended express hours startShould the approximate 15-mining this semester. Express hours are
ute time slot during express hours
an opportunity for
not be enough,
undergraduate and
students can make
graduate students to
appointments for
It’s an on-demand
have their résumés
an even more
reviewed without an service, and it’s a way thorough review of
appointment.
résumés and
for them to receive... their
Express hours
cover letters.
more immediate
are in operation
At the Career
Monday - Thursday
Center, students are
feedback on their
from 11 a.m. to 4
by specialability to self-market reviewed
p.m.
ly trained peer-edto potential employers ucators known
Lorie LoganBennett, direcas “career peer
tor of the Career
advisors.”
Students
LORIE LOGAN-BENNETT
Center, sees the
Director, Career Center
undergo a training
extended express
process in order to
hours as a way to expand the space
review résumés and cover letters.
for a program that was at full capaciOn its website, the Career Center
ty. Now the center will be able to help
offers advice and resources to those
more students market themselves.
looking for employment including
“It’s an on-demand service, and
sample résumés for each major,
it’s a way for them to receive sort of
handouts on how to “review and
quick and more immediate feedback
polish” a résumé and a list of
on their ability to self-brand and
“résumé power verbs.”
ROHAN MATTU

“

”

Cody Boteler/ The Towerlight
The Career Center is located at the 7800 Building on York Road. The
center is now offering express hours for walk-in resume reviews.

SUMMER HOUSING WANTED
Professional woman with college aged
daughter (who has an internship in
Towson for the summer) are looking
for a 2 bedroom apartment or house
to rent from June-mid August.
Will also house sit.
Please contact at 512-663-8075
or email: yorke@austin.rr.com

Title: Scythe
Author: Neal Shusterman
Genre: YA fantasy
Rating: Two stars
Warnings: suicide
“Scythe” is a novel with a great
idea that falls flat. I was immediately attracted to the world: society
has overcome disease, aging, and
death, and the only way to control population is an organization
of people whose only job is to
kill. They’re called “scythes,” and
they’re basically government-sanctioned murderers, except society
has no government, just an AI that
helps run transportation and give
dinner recommendations.
So the reader is presented with
an intriguing concept that garners
enough curiosity to flip open the
pages. And from there, things kind
of go downhill. The two main characters, Citra and Rowan, are
seemingly entirely outof-place in society,
which is of course
characteristic of
main
protagonists in a YA fantasy novel. They
are taken on as
apprentices to Scythe
Faraday, who begins to
teach them the art of killing with a
respectable amount of compassion
and tortured-soul rumination.
For the first part of the novel,
you’re stuck wondering what the plot
is, where the story is going, and why
Shusterman doesn’t want to just say
“drugs” instead of “illegal chemicals
of recreation.”
That was my first major issue
with the book: the author spends
so much time making it apparent
that this world is far distanced from
“mortal times” when people still died
of natural causes and knew what
“terrorism” was. The book is full of
irritating attempts to immerse the
reader: Shusterman makes it clear
that people don’t know what sports
are, don’t know what murder is,
and don’t know what handcuffs or
torture are.
While I can understand that he
was trying to craft a society free of
crime, people still go to school and
people still have easy access to the AI
that has all of history recorded—why

didn’t Shusterman put two and two
together, and let the reader focus on
his plot instead of reminding them,
“This is a totally different era!” over
and over again? Because a plot does
come in, and it has such potential:
something happens about halfway
through that I won’t spoil for you,
and all of a sudden the reader is
exposed to two entirely different ideologies, two entirely different ways of
thinking and interpreting both the
novel’s history and modern society,
and conflict is introduced.
A story is nothing without conflict;
the better the conflict, the better the
story. I’ll let you think about how it
takes over one hundred fifty pages for
an actual problem to come to light;
in the meantime, I’ll talk a bit more
about the two main characters.
Citra is terribly boring and a total
Mary Sue—she’s self-righteous and
unrealistic and so boring because she
can do no wrong. Rowan is the interesting one -- he struggles with his conscience and his morality, he has issues
with his identity, and because of this
he feels more real, more flawed,
and more interesting. Not
always, though, and not
by as much as I maybe
would’ve liked.
Now as for the conflict, it was good enough.
It wasn’t spectacular, but
it kept me interested enough
to read until the end, where
the most life-threatening struggle
was promptly resolved in a rather
anti-climactic way. The antagonists
of the novel seemed so critical and
dangerous, but it takes less than
two pages for them to be rendered
irrelevant. The rest of the story’s
conflict is resolved later, but is so
inconsequential that by that point,
you find yourself not really caring.
And I don’t even want to get into
the “romance” aspect, other than to
say it was totally unnecessary and
honestly laughable.
I was truly excited to read this
book—I even bought it instead
of asking the publisher for a free
copy, because I was so sure I’d
like it—and it let me down. In over
four hundred pages, I can count
on one hand the number of times
Shusterman made me think, “That
was a good line.” The rest of my
experience was just me waiting for
it to get really good -- and sighing
in the meantime at all the clichés
and disappointing writing.

TU gets un-Con-ventional at Comic Con

Brittany Whitham / The Towerlight

Towson’s first Comic Con featured food, screenings and students dressed in their best comic garb.
JESSICA RICKS
Staff Writer

Friday evening saw cartoons, comic
book characters and pop culture icons
spring to life around Towson’s campus
for the University’s first Comic Con.
The event, organized by Student
Activities and managed by senior
Sahil Lakhyani, featured a costume contest, an arts and crafts
station where students could do
superhero-themed paintings, a
food table and a showing of “The
Dark Knight.”
“I wanted to have a fun activity for
students. A lot of people here are into
geeky stuff so I saw an opportunity
and took it,” Lakhyani said.

Senior Matthew Rhoades dressed
as Captain America, complete with
the superhero’s signature shield.
“It’s the only costume I own,
so it’s kind of my go-to,” Rhoades
said. “Captain America is my favorite superhero.”
Student Joy Stephanie Telan said
that she’s always liked conventions
and that she’s previously been to both
Otakon, an anime pop culture convention traditionally hosted in Downtown
Baltimore, and Annapolis Comic Con.
“I’m most looking forward to meeting new people and seeing all of the
events,” she said.
Stephanie Papetti and Alison
Keelan, both freshmen, came to the
con after leaving a screening of “The
Lego Batman Movie.”

“I’ve heard about Comic Cons a lot
but I never went to one,” Papetti said.
“I’m interested in seeing what it’s
actually like.”
For some the event left a little bit to
be desired, given Comic Con’s reputation as a larger, widely-attended operation compared to the smaller-scale
Towson event.
Senior Daniel Nelson attended the convention dressed as Luke
Skywalker, but said he didn’t know
what to expect going into the event.
“I’ve never been to a Comic Con
before,” Nelson said. “I’ve never had
the time or money. I was expecting
more than a movie, food, and one
event. I don’t know what I was
expecting, but I’m not too disappointed.”

Compared
to
last
year’s
#OscarsSoWhite, this year’s nominations are a marked improvement in
diversity. Say what you want about
Academy president Cheryl Boone
Isaacs (although I can’t help but wonder what took so long)—she delivered
on her promise to select more diverse
Academy membership, bringing in
683 new Academy members (46 percent women and 41 percent people of
color). If you’re like me, you haven’t
had the time (or money) to see most
of the Oscar nominations—but that’s

okay, because political analyst Nate
Silver’s polling aggregation website
FiveThirtyEight has an algorithm to
predict the most likely winners—personal feelings about Emma Stone’s
mediocre performance and Casey
Affleck’s history of alleged sexual
assault aside (who says journalism’s
not objective), here are the most
likely winners of the 89th Academy
Awards.
Best Motion Picture
Most likely to win: “La La Land”
Arguably the whitest of the nominees, this modern musical has been
sweeping awards this season--it made
history by tying with “All About Eve”
(1950) and “Titanic” (1997) for the

most nominations ever for one film-14. “La La Land” follows aspiring
actress Mia and struggling jazz musician Sebastian chasing their dreams
in present-day Los Angeles with a
vintage, old-Hollywood style.
Best Director
Most likely to win: Damien Chazelle,
“La La Land”
According to FiveThirtyEight, 84
percent of the winners of the “feature film” category at the Directors
Guild awards have gone on to win the
Academy Award for best director over
the past 25 years. At 31 years old,
Chazelle is the youngest
--Read the rest of this story online
at www.thetowerlight.com

Arts & Life

February 21, 2017 13

All T, no shade
KERRY INGRAM

Student explores screenprints

Courtesy of Luke Martin

Screenprinter and illustrator Luke Martin stands in front of his work in the Center for the Arts.
NICOLE SHAKHNAZAROVA
Staff Writer

Combining two passions to create
a single niche of art may seem more
like a challenge rather than a reward
to some, but when sophomore Luke
Martin creates his artwork, he coalesces screen-printing and illustration to
devise graphic forms of art, and enjoys
nothing more than doing so.
“I didn’t start screen-printing until
about a year or so ago,” said Martin.
“I remember trying screen-printing
once in an art class in high school
and thinking this is the greatest thing
ever, I want to do this for the rest of
my life.”
Besides wanting the viewers to
understand his artwork, Martin wants
his artistic creations to do more than
just convey a story.
“I want the viewer to look at my
work and interpret what they see,”
said Martin. “I want to take a scene
and transport the viewer there and

“

make them feel like they are a part of
that scene.”
Crafting a graphic art piece which
combines screen-printing and illustrations simultaneously does not happen overnight, especially making them
work lavishly in tandem. On average,
a single design of Martin’s takes two
weeks to create. Most of Martin’s
artwork is drawn in pen ink by hand
in black and white, then scanned into
the computer and edited thereafter.
“What’s good about the field of
screen-printing is that there are several ways you can have your own style in
the art world,” said Martin. “Growing
up I was always a fan of graphic artists, artists who did what I’m trying
to do now and I’ve always looked up
to them and considered them my
inspirations, yet I’m still able to have
my own style.”
To further advance the expression
of his artwork, Martin’s ambitions for
2017 are threefold.
“I think of 2017 as the year for me
to get out as much as I can to sell my

artwork,” said Martin. “I also hope to
create a theme for my beer can artwork and produce one for all 50 states
as I currently have just two, but I’m
planning on creating one a month this
year,” said Martin.
Martin’s third ambition for the
upcoming months is to attend various
art exhibits and fairs to display his
work to the general public.
“The best way to get people to see
your work is to put it in front of them,”
said Martin. “I’m lucky that Baltimore
has a very decent art culture, and it
has a lot of events throughout the year
such as Artscape and the Baltimore
Academy of Illustration.”
Many contemporary artists discover
their artistic metier through inspiration of other artistic greats.
“My favorite artist is Shepard
Fairey, the Obey Giant,” said Martin.
“I also love Aaron Horkey’s work, it’s
very illustration heavy which is what I
like to incorporate in my own work. “
Luke Martin’s artwork can be found
on his website suburbanavengerart.com.

Growing up I was always a fan of graphic artists, artists who did
what I’m trying to do now and I’ve always looked up to them
and considered them my inspirations, yet I’m still able to have
my own style.

LUKE MARTIN
Artist

Columnist

I have been obsessed with
binge-watching old episodes of
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” as of late,
and my love for drag queens has
grown exponentially. I’ve found
myself using their catch phrases in
my daily life (the term “okay” now
always ends with a tongue roll when
it leaves my mouth, “okrrrr?”) and
I have an abundance of drag queen
gifs ready to use as text responses.
I’ve narrowed down my admiration
into one main reason as to why I love
these beautiful performers so much:
They’re not afraid to spill all the T
and to tell it how it is.
Unfortunately, we can’t
all be drag queens.
However, we can
still follow in their
stiletto-clad footsteps and share our
truths. What better
way to spill some T
than on a tee?
T-shirts with important
sayings have become extremely
prevalent in college fashion trends.
As emerging adults, we are beginning to find our voices, and with
the current events going on within
our country, now is especially the
right time to wear our hearts on our
sleeves. Literally.
Below is a list of websites that specialize in tees for a variety of voices,
whether you’re liberal or conservative,
serious or humorous.

No matter what your preferred
flavor of tee is (see what I did
there?), there are numerous options
to choose from!
FOR LIBERAL LOYALTY: our-liberal-pride.myshopify.com
This site has the perfect “Make
______ Wrong Again” shirts to call
out the racist, sexist, and hateful acts
in society.
FOR RACIAL PRIDE: legendaryrootz.com
This site is a black-owned business
that specializes in creating tees to celebrate those with a bit more melanin in
their skin. Shirts vary from serious to
gentle humor.
FOR FEMINIST FIERCENESS:
feministapparel.com
OKAY LADIES (and gents)
NOW LET’S GET IN
FORMATION! This
site supplies a large
range of tees promoting gender equality
in a fun way.
FOR THE RAD
REPUBLICAN: cafepress.com/+republican+t-shirts
This site has a good selection of
shirts for all of my conservative peeps (I
may not be a Republican, but you need
some love, too)! The shirt I predict to be
the most popular for this group? One
donning the Republican elephant and
the words “Raised Right” in a bold font.
FOR LITERALLY ANYONE:
lookhuman.com or 6dollarshirts.com.
Now prepare yourself for the spill,
Tiger, because all of this T is sure to
be scalding.

”
Courtesy of@BrownSugaBabe/Twitter

T-shirts from various online shops let you wear your pride and
opinions on your sleeve.

14
21, 2017
February
21, 2017
14February

Puzzles
Puzzles

Crossword
Sudoku

?
?

Turn to page 15
for answers
to today’s

9-3-16

● Each row and each column must
contain the numbers 1 through 4
(easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging)
without repeating.

● The numbers within the heavily

outlined boxes, called cages, must
combine using the given operation
(in any order) to produce the target
numbers in the top-left corners.

● Freebies: Fill in single-box cages with
the number in the top-left corner.

We bring you The Towerlight every Tuesday for free. But we ask for your support as
we continue our mission of giving the next generation of student journalists
their first real-world experience in reporting, editing, photography, and design.

To make a donation, please go to TheTowerlight.com/youcanhelp/
Or mail a check to Baltimore Student Media, 8000 York Rd., Towson, MD 21252.
We are a non-profit corporation, so your donation is tax-deductible.
And we will gladly provide a receipt. Thank you for your support!

Arts & Life

February 21, 2017 15

Trump and superheroes

And the decline of Western civilization
WILLIAM STRANG-MOYA
Staff Photographer

Have you ever pondered what so
many modern “superheroes” and
our “president” have in common?
A nauseatingly similar amount
of things. Before I explore this
assertion, I would like to openly
acknowledge that I do not by any
means advocate superhero movies. Regardless of their objectively
mystifying qualities, that they can
afford to have, I will argue that
these films are a plague on the
greater good of American film and
that any individual who openly supports this obscene oversaturation
of genre should reevaluate their
understanding of artistic appeal
and creative integrity. But I digress.
As for Donald Trump, I will withhold my opinion simply due to the
fact that he, as both a political and
business entity, seems to shamelessly prioritize the debasement of
his public image (not that his public image was anything glamorous
in the first place).
So why do superhero movies
sell? Why are they successful? Is
it actually what the people want?
Unless you frequent sources such as
birthmoviesdeath.com, one might
assume that these movies are so
successful simply due to the fact
that critics actually like them. But
that’s not always the case. On
IMDB, there’s a list of the “most
popular movies” currently generating buzz, and, as of the month of
February, 26 percent of the films

on this list have not even been
released. It is, of course, out of a
list of 100 movies. And upon their
release, will they still be so popular? Modern Hollywood thrives on
its ability to market these films.
Often, after the release of one of
these over-the-top superhero features, it is simply forgotten about.
Titles such as “Suicide Squad” and
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice” each scored around 6.5/10,
and even worse scores in terms
of critical reception. What made
these films so iconic, however, are
their respective marketing campaigns. They got such a tremendous
amount of unnecessary coverage
that people were bombarded by
movie trailers any time they would
try to watch a YouTube video.
This ties in with Donald Trump
in a number of ways. The more one
displays themselves in an increasingly absurd and theatrical manner,
the more attention one draws. The
more attention one sells. And that
is a simple parallel that can be
drawn. With such a premise, one
could even have the same proposal
for horror movies or romance films.
“Superheroes” such as Tony Stark
(Iron Man), Bruce Wayne (Batman),
or Oliver Queen (The Green Arrow),
are all incredibly wealthy members
of society when they are not being
“superheroes.” I’ve often heard conservatives express discontent with
Hollywood -- mostly in response to
individuals such as Meryl Streep or
the creators of “Rogue One” -- but,
whether anyone will admit it or not,

movies and television, like music,
are perhaps the most profoundly impactful artistic mediums that
influence society.
If Bubba Gump Shrimp can
become an actual restaurant, “The
Lego Batman Movie” can become
more successful than a live-action
Batman movie, or Hanz Kiessling’s
“Temptation Sensation” will forever
remind one of “It’s Always Sunny in
Philadelphia,” then I firmly believe
that a nation of moviegoers can
willingly, if not unknowingly, subject themselves to the belief that an
unnecessarily wealthy individual,
regardless of their experience or
obnoxious personality, is qualified
to “save a nation” from something
or other.
Yes, it sounds like a stretch,
but with polarized political affiliations going so far to demonize the
media, the movie world manipulates in such a subtle manner that
it draws little to no attention to
itself. Given the fact that these
films have such weak plotlines
and are practically devoid of any
creative integrity whatsoever, I
believe that individuals who do
not pick up on such things can’t
help but give in to a political
movement that almost solely relies
on hype without depth followed
by waiting for the next best thing.
Superhero films are simply the
tip of the iceberg in terms of
Hollywood’s feces-churned, franchise-driven pulp movie garbage,
but if they weren’t so revered, this
article would be meaningless.

JOIN THE Marching Ravens!
OPEN AUDITIONS

Saturday, April 1st
at M&T Bank Stadium
FOR INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER

BaltimoreRavens.com/MarchingRavens

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410-296-5126

Towson, Maryland

Solutions
● Each row and each column must

contain the numbers 1 through 4
(easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging)
without repeating.

● The numbers within the heavily

Courtesy of Donald J. Trump on Facebook

Some critics speculate that the popularity of superhero movies may have led to Trump’s popularity, too.

9-5-16

outlined boxes, called cages, mu
combine using the given operatio
(in any order) to produce the targ
numbers in the top-left corners.

● Freebies: Fill in single-box cages

the number in the top-left corner.
KenKen® is a registered trademark of

for Puzzles
on page 14

16 February 21, 2017

Spring Sports Preview

to reign as national champs
Brooke Glenn/ The Towerlight

Junior midfielder Cole Robertson looks up the field at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson’s exhibition game against Villanova. The game took place Saturday, Feb 4 (Above).
Senior attacker Tyler Konen looks to dish the ball in the same game against Villanova. Towson will be back at Johnny Unitas Stadium March 1 at 7 p.m. against Loyola (Below).

DESMOND BOYLE
Staff Writer

Towson enters the 2017 season
as a favorite to win a third consecutive Colonial Athletic Association
(CAA) Title.
However, for seniors like attacker
Ryan Drenner, winning another CAA
Championship is not the ultimate goal.
“To keep playing ‘til [the National
Championship], that’s been one of my
goals since I was little,” Drenner said.
“I know our senior class. When we
came in freshman year, that was a goal
of ours to accomplish during our four.”
Towson’s team impressed last year
with a 10-9 upset of the second ranked

“

Denver Pioneers, before being eliminated by local rival Loyola.
One of the keys to moving on further than the quarterfinals in the
NCAA tournament will be improvment
in winning faceoffs in big games.
In the two NCAA tournament contests last year, the Tigers won just nine
of 44 faceoffs.
“Having more options this year
is something we're excited about,”
Head Coach Shawn Nadelen said.
“I think in the past we’ve had
our number one option and then
after that it’s been a little dicey. I
don’t think we’re in that situation
anymore.”
The biggest challenge Towson
faces this year is replacing three
starting defenders from last season plus standout goalkeeper Tyler

White, who all graduated last spring.
Despite losing the starting
defense from last year, Nadelen
said the goal remains the same for
Towson’s potent offense.
“I don’t think it puts pressure
on our attack,” Nadelen said. “Our
offense always puts pressure on
themselves, we want to score on
every possession we have.”
Drenner and fellow senior attacker Joe Seider will be looking to light
up the scoreboard again this year.
Seider lead the team in scoring
with 35 goals, while Drenner scored
33 and provided 23 assists.
Whether the experienced attack
or new defensive unit shoulder the
load for the Tigers this year, the
goal remains clear: play all the way
to Memorial Day.

Having more options this year is something
that we are excited about. I think in the past
we’ve had our number one option and then
after that it’s been a little dicey, I don’t think
we’re in that situation anymore.

”

SHAWN NADELEN
Head Coach

Spring Sports Preview

February 21, 2017

17

experienced tigers look
to make strides

Alex Best/ The Towerlight

Towson baseball practices taking ground balls at John B. Schuerholz Park this week. The team is set to kick off its season in Cal State Northridge Feb. 24th at 5 p.m. (Above).
Towson baseball practices its infield drills this week. The team will look to improve upon its last season in which they went 20-35 overall and 10-14 in the conference (Below).
JILL GATTENS

now sophomores," Gottlieb said.
Sophomore Richie Palacios is coming off a successful freshman campaign in which he won CAA Rookie
Towson is waiting to get its 2017
of the Year honors. He finished 2016
season started, and the team will
batting .329 with five home runs and
play on the road in its first series of
38 RBI.
the year Feb. 24, against Cal State
Palacios played at
Northridge.
second base last seaThis
year's
son but will make the
team is looking to
The goal is to get
transition to shortimprove upon last
into the conference stop. Brady Policelli,
season,
during
which they went
tournament. I don’t last year’s shortstop,
20-35 overall and
think we are too far was drafted in the
13th round by the
10-14 in CAA
away from getting Detroit Tigers.
games.
"Palacios
had
"The goal is to
a spot
a great summer,"
get into the conferMIKE GOTTLIEB
Gottlieb said. “He is a
ence tournament,"
Head Coach
much more confident
Head Coach Mike
player than he was last year. He
Gottlieb said. "I don’t think we are too
has the talent to be one of the best
far away from getting a spot."
players in our conference."
Gottlieb is entering his 29th seaAlong with Palacios, the team
son as Towson's head coach. He said
will bring back A.J. Gallo and
he is optimistic about experienced
Collin Guyer. Mark Grunberg will
players returning to the lineup.
also return after sitting out last
"Last year's team was a young team
and a lot of freshman played who are
year due to injury.
Contributing Writer
@JillGattens

“

"Even with having a young team last
year, the young guys can get better,"

Gottlieb said.
The Tigers will open at home

against Wagner March 3-5 at John B.
Schuerholz Park.

18 February 21, 2017

Spring Sports Preview

to be the best, you have to beat the best
File photos by Mark Dragon/ The Towerlight

Redshirt senior Michelle Gildea embraces junior Emily Gillingham after scoring the game-winning goal against CAA rival Delaware last year at Johnny Unitas Stadium (Above).
Gildea scores the game-winning goal against Delaware. She will play in her last season with Towson this year. The team will be play its next game against Georgetown (Below).

Head Coach Sonia LaMonica has led
Towson to four CAA Championship
Titles and three NCAA Tournament
appearances since starting in 2011.
Despite a difficult schedule this
year, expectations remain high for the
19th ranked Tigers.
“I think the message has always
been the same over the course of the
years, and that is we’re willing to
play anybody, and we need to beat
the best in order to be the best,”
LaMonica said.
Towson began its season with losses to Stony Brook and Penn State, but
the team has since recorded its first
win, defeating University of Maryland,
Baltimore County, Wednesday.
Towson returns to action Feb.
22, traveling to Washington D.C. to

defeated Georgetown at Johnny
Unitas Stadium.
Looking ahead to the rest of the
schedule, the Tigers will have a long
stretch of non-conference play before
they start CAA competition.
In non-conference play, Towson
will host local rival Loyola, Florida,
Stetson, Notre Dame and Oregon. The
team will also travel for a road matchup against Monmouth.
In CAA play, the team will host
William & Mary, Elon and Drexel,
and travel to James Madison, Hofstra
and Delaware. The Tigers will end
the season by hosting local rival John
Hopkins April 30.
Four of the Tigers’ opponents are
ranked in the intercollegiate top-10,
but LaMonica is confident that her
team is up for the challenge.
“We’ve always played a competitive
schedule in order to show that we
wanna compete against top teams,”

Sports

February 21, 2017 19

towson takes two
Tigers defeat Villanova,George Mason

Jon
Mazza
Men’s
Lacrosse

Courtesy of Towson University Athletics

Two Towson players await a serve in a match. The team is coming off two wins this weekend (Above).
BILLY OWENS
Staff Writer
@billyowens174

Towson completed a trio of hardfought matches over the weekend
with wins over Villanova and
George Mason, but a close defeat
to George Washington.
Sunday afternoon, Towson hosted
Villanova at the Bare Hills Racquet
and Fitness Club in Baltimore. The
team earned a 7-0 win over the
Villanova and dropped only one set in
singles play.
“We played solid, fundamental tennis and competed well,” Interim Head
Coach Jamie Peterson said.
Towson gained early momentum
in the match by winning the opening
doubles point. The No. 1 team of A.J.
Gomer and Ren van Oorschodt defeated Kaylan Rotman and Alexandra
Krogius 6-0, while the No. 2 team of
Lucy Williams and Jane Shusterman
defeated Paulina Bajet and Linley
Busby 6-3.
The Wildcats pairing of Victoria
Martinez and Carina Burdick took
the No. 3 doubles set 6-4 over Nicola
Shakhnazarova and Barbora Vasilkova.
The Tigers continued their strong
performance into singles, winning all
six matches to sweep the Wildcats. No.
1 Shakhnazarova held off Rotman 6-1,
7-5, No. 2 Gomer took out Martinez
6-3, 6-0, and No. 3 Williams defeated
Bajet 6-3, 6-2.
No. 4 Vasilkova edged out Krogius

6-1, 7-6 (5), No. 5 Shusterman held
off Burdick 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 [10-5], and
No. 6 Sophie Lesage closed out Busby
6-4, 6-4.
Saturday, Towson defeated George
Mason 5-0 at the Trump National
Country Club in Sterling, Virginia. The
contest was played with all five matches (one doubles, four singles) being
played as best-of-three set matches
with no third-set match tiebreaker.
“We did what was necessary
and competed well down the line,”
Peterson said. “We persevered in
tough moments.”
In the doubles match, the Tigers’
pairing of Gomer and van Oorschodt
held off the Patriots’ Morgan Yang and
Nicole Haigwood 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
In singles play, No. 1 Shakhnazarova
defeated Sydney Green 6-2, 6-4, while
No. 2 Williams came back from a
set down to defeat Scarlett Walston
3-6, 6-0, 6-1. No. 3 Vasilkova took
out Rachel Lee 6-3, 6-3 and No. 4
Lucy Gloninger defeated Olivia LacyThompson 6-3, 6-1.
Friday afternoon, Towson lost a very
close 4-3 match to George Washington
at the Southeast Tennis & Learning
Center in Washington, D.C.
“Their team had played five matches
already while we had only played two,”
Peterson said. “They were just more
match tough.”
In a tightly contested opening doubles point, the Colonials won two of
the three matches to gain an early
lead. Taylor Nederlander and Marie-

Louise Decamps bested the No. 2
pair of Williams and Shusterman 7-5,
while Allison Hansen and Victoria
Kogan took out No. 3 Lesage and
Gloninger 6-3. The Tigers’s No. 1 team
of Gomer and van Oorschodt won
against Maria Siopacha and Melis
Bayraktaroglu 7-5.
The doubles point proved to be key
for George Washington, as they held off
Towson’s three wins in singles play to
take the dual match victory. Siopacha
defeated No. 1 Shakhnazarova 6-2,
7-6 (6), Bayraktaroglu won two close
tiebreakers to beat No. 3 Williams 7-6
(5), 7-6 (9), and Kamilla Beisenova
defeated No. 5 Shusterman 6-4, 6-2.
Even though No. 2 Gomer defeated
Decamps 6-3, 6-4, No. 4 Vasilkova
defeated Nederlander 6-1, 7-5, and No.
6 van Oorschodt defeated Hansen 6-1,
6-4, it was not enough to overcome the
dropped doubles point.
“Overall, I’m very pleased with
their performance this weekend,”
Peterson said.
Towson’s record currently sits at 4-2
on the season and 1-0 at home after
the win Sunday.
The team has no matches
this weekend but will travel to
Pittsburgh the following weekend
for a pair of matches, starting with
a neutral-site matchup against
Buffalo on Saturday before taking
on host Duquesne Sunday.
The following Tuesday, Towson will
host its first on-campus match of the
year against Longwood.

Sophomore Jon Mazza, who made his
first collegiate start at the attacker position,
recorded six goals and six points in Towson’s
13-5 victory over Mount St. Mary’s Saturday at
Waldron Stadium in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

20 February 21, 2017

Sports

Towson triumphs
over james madison, elon
Joe Noyes/ The Towerlight

Junior guard Deshaun Morman drives to the basket against CAA rival Elon Thursday night. Morman finshed the game with seven points, one block and one steal (Above).
Senior forward John Davis takes his seat on the bench during warmups. Davis was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a gunshot wound to the knee (Below).
JORDAN COPE
Sports Editor
@jordancope26

Difficult circumstances couldn’t
keep Towson down this week, as
the team rallied to defeat James
Madison Saturday and Elon
Thursday in this season’s final two
games at SECU Arena.
Prior to Thursday’s matchup against Elon, Head Coach Pat
Skerry announced that senior forward John Davis, who sustained
a graze wound to the knee from
a Feb. 11 drive-by shooting in
Philadelphia, will be out for the
remainder of the year.
“We always preach next man up
in practice,” Davis said “I really
believe that guys get hurt — which
right now I’m hurt — other things
happen that pull guys off the court.
So everybody’s got to stay ready. A
lot of guys are stepping, up as they
should. It’s their time to play.”
Saturday, the Tigers hosted the
Dukes on senior day where Davis

and forward William Adala Moto
were honored before the game.
In front of a crowd of 2,871,
Towson downed James Madison
75-65. The team shot 50 percent
from the floor while holding James
Madison to 43 percent. Junior
guard Mike Morsell led all scorers
with 19 points. Freshman guard
Zane Martin added 16.
“I thought [Zane] made big, big
shots at the end of the half, late in
the game” Skerry said. “When they
got momentum he stepped on it
every time with tough, tough shots.
He likes the moment.”
Thursday, Towson clashed with
Elon, a team that has taken the CAA
by surprise. Elon has posted a 16-10
record this season despite being
picked seventh in the preseason polls.
In the first half, Towson held a slim
4-point lead, but came out strong in
the second half to secure an 85-66 win.
Morsell led all scorers with 32
points. He was just one field goal
shy of tying his own record for most
points in a game at SECU Arena.

“Mike was Mike,” Skerry said.
“He dominated the game, that’s
what we needed. He’s on a whole
different level. It’s not surprising.
We’ve seen it, we know it.”

Martin also gave the Tigers a lift.
He went 4-10 from the field and 2-4
from 3-point range. He finished the
game with 12 points and one steal.
Towson will conclude the regular

season this week. The team will take
on UNC Wilmington Thursday and
William & Mary Sunday. The conference tournament will then run March
3-7 in Charleston, South Carolina.